Here are a some essential tools & services we use on a daily basis within our I.T work and developing websites. There's also some items we like to recommend or suggest below that we or our colleagues have had positive experiences with.
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Web Hosting Offers
We've recommended HostArmada for some time now including moving all of our own websites over to their service and have to say they are very reliable and provide lightening fast hosting services, at very competitive prices.
Unlike many other host companies, HostArmada's shared hosting allows you to specify a data centre nearest to your target audience in the world.
From standard Shared Hosting service for a single website to Managed Cloud VPS hosting, or if you require complete unmatched website performance, go with HostArmada's Dedicated CPU Servers based on redundant Cloud SSD VPS platform, for any websites requirements.
Website Domain Names
Namecheap make registering, hosting, and managing domains for yourself or others easy and affordable, because the internet needs people.
Free privacy protection for life, keeping your data safe with domain privacy protection.
Easy Domain Management, After purchase, you can head straight to your Namecheap account panel and start using your domain. The account panel is uncluttered and easy to use, so you can quickly concentrate on the things that matter.
Your domain carries your brand, public image, and professional reputation. As well as 24/7 customer support, Namecheap provide everything you need to develop your personal or business site.
Computer Software
CCleaner Professional is the most powerful version of Piriform's PC cleaner. It makes it easy to speed up a slow computer by disabling resource hogging applications and programs, updating out of date software drivers and more. Plus you can keep your activity private.
CCleaner Professional
Their best ever pro version combines all the features of the free version with the power of automation, so your PC always stays clean, safe and fast.
These are the additional features you get in the professional version here:-
Your digital world is always brighter with PaintShop Pro.
Whether you want one-click fixes or advanced photo editing, you can do it faster and easier with the power of AI and a customizable toolset.
Powerful photo editing tools
Depend on a versatile range of professional tools in this image editing software to make every shot, the best shot.
Tools including Layers & Masks, Text Tools, Drawing, Painting & Fill Tools plus access a wide range of Templates and Creative Content
Recommended Laptops
- 8GB RAM (upgradable and available second DIMM slot)
- 256GB SSD (Easy access to upgrade storage to 1TB SSD)
- 15.6" Full HD screen
- Powered by Intel's Core i5 quad-core processor
- UK layout keyboard
- All-Day Battery Life — Go longer than ever with up to 18 hours of battery life depending on use.
- Powerful Performance — Take on everything from professional-quality editing to action- packed gaming with ease. The Apple M1 chip with an 8-core CPU delivers up to 3.5x faster performance than the previous generation while using far less power.
- Superfast Memory — 8GB of unified memory makes your entire system speedy and responsive. That way, it can support tasks like memory-hogging multi-tab browsing and opening a huge graphic file quickly and easily.
- Stunning Display — With a 13.3” Retina display, images come alive with new levels of realism. Text is sharp and clear, and colours are more vibrant.
- Why Mac — Easy to learn. Easy to set up. Astoundingly powerful. Intuitive. Packed with apps to use straight out of the box. Mac is designed to let you work, play and create like never before.
- Simply Compatible — All your existing apps work, including Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365 and Google Drive. Plus you can use your favourite iPhone and iPad apps directly on macOS. Altogether you’ll have access to the biggest collection of apps ever for Mac. All available on the App Store.
- Easy to Learn — If you already have an iPhone, MacBook Air feels familiar from the moment you turn it on. And it works perfectly with all your Apple devices. Use your iPad to extend the workspace of your Mac, answer texts and phone calls directly on your Mac, and more.
WordPress Themes
Popcorn WordPress Theme has to be the fastest and one of the most flexible themes I've experienced whilst using WordPress over the years. It's certainly impressive how it helps keep Google's Core Web Vitals happy with the amazing load times and high pagespeed scores.
For a very decent One Time Payment of only $99, you can install Popcorn Theme on unlimited websites. As well as it being developed by a close small team of marketers, Popcorn has a fantastic support via a community ready to help, plus a large library of documents readily available.
WordPress Content Builder
Build an online business in 10 steps
I just need to tell you about a new thing that's only just being released... and it's changed the way I think about WordPress and building websites.
Have you ever had the headache of trying to create web pages with WordPress?
You just want to change one little thing but soon discover it’s a technical nightmare. I bet you wish you could build web pages like they were a drag-and-drop canvas, but keep all the functionality of WordPress too, right?
Then you’ve got to check out Thrive Architect - https://smdesigntech.com/Thrive-Architect
It’s made by a company called Thrive Themes who build conversion-focused plugins for WordPress. They’ve made a true front-end visual editor… and it’s a game changer! You install it on your WordPress site and literally within minutes you can build beautifully designed pages, styling every single detail without ever touching a line of code.
You can drag-and-drop contact forms, text boxes, testimonials, pricing tables, column layouts, videos, maps… it’s limitless. It’s made for building high-converting homepages, landing pages and even blog posts.
Thrive Architect works alongside any WordPress theme and comes with hundreds of pre-built page templates that are fully mobile optimized. It’s like having your very own design team at your disposal.
Take a few minutes to check out their demo video (THRIVE ARCHITECT), and you’ll start to see what I mean.
Thrive Themes give you the tools to grow your business and free teaching, better than most paid courses you’ll find online. Don't miss the free Mini-Course for Fast Landing Page Creation